More opponents of PawSox stadium financing plan object by email

Sentiment on public-comment portal has swayed from mostly supportive to mostly against public subsidies.

Katherine Gregg Journal Political Writer kathyprojo

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Opponents of the proposed Pawtucket Red Sox stadium financing deal are waging an aggressive effort to make their voices heard over the rallying cries of the team's owners and backers, including the leaders of the state's construction trade unions.

On Sept. 14, those against the deal had to wait until 10 p.m. for the PawSox owners and their backers to finish their four-hour pitch to the Senate Finance Committee before they got their first chance to speak against the proposal to use $38 million in city and state subsidies for a new stadium.

In the days since, opponents have stepped up their letter writing.

While those in favor of the proposed deal dominated the Sept. 14 hearing — and the first round of letters that came in to the online public-comment portal created by the Senate — two-thirds of the letters that have come in since have been vehemently against the team owners' bid for money and publicly acquired land to build a Fenway Park replica in downtown Pawtucket. The count since Sept. 12, when the Journal last checked: 81 of 127 comments were against the financing proposal.

The advocates packed their messages with fond recollections of fun family nights at McCoy Stadium.

"I've been going to games here since the 60's. It is truly a beloved team," wrote a woman identifying herself as Beth Mazor of Pawtucket.

"Schools and job! That's what's important," countered a woman identifying herself as Joyce DiChiaro. "A new PawSox stadium at taxpayer expense is highway robbery!! What's wrong with this administration? They've absolutely lost touch with what the people really need and just pander to their donors. Despicable."

But Jan Brodie, the executive director of the Pawtucket Foundation — a cheerleader for development in the city — talked about how much the relocated stadium would mean to the city.

"Pawtucket is poised to go from a city under stress to a renaissance city with a new commuter rail station, numerous mill restorations ... [the] return of Narragansett Brewery ... and of course, the PawSox. Located in a new public park, in the center of downtown, on a site that has been a near-abandoned eyesore ... with a financing deal that pays for itself, this is a huge win for the city and state," she wrote.

The opponents did not accept the pay-for-itself argument. They focused on the potential risk to taxpayers if the team owners' revenue projections from "ancillary development" and the like prove overly optimistic. A common theme: Let the "millionaire" team owners — who include Thomas Ryan and J. Terrence Murray, the retired chief executives of CVS and Fleet Finance Group, respectively — gamble more of their own money.

"What happens if those numbers fall short?" asked a writer identifying himself as Norman J. Clark of Pawtucket. "If you notice, the PawSox are not saying they'll cover any shortfall in projected revenues."

Under the proposal, the Pawtucket Redevelopment Agency would float bonds to cover the city's $15-million contribution, the state's $23 million, and $33 million of the $45 million the owners are expected to commit.

"After doing much research," wrote someone identified as Emlyn Addison, "I've concluded that taxpayer-subsidized sporting facilities are a bad deal because they: rarely come in on budget ... almost never produce the revenue they promise ... are largely profit-mechanisms for investors/developers ... private gain from public risk."

'You guys and gals got more pressing issues than this God Damn ball park," wrote a man identifying himself as Lawrence Celani. "Let the owners of the PawSox dig into their pockets and not ours to fund this needless project."

Others argued that the state's crumbling roads and schools should come first. Someone identifying himself as Thomas Field Jr. wrote, "My children attend a Cranston public elementary school .... Only a few of the rooms in the entire building have window AC units. The windows and the blinds that cover them are completely yellowed ... [and] my son's classroom last year had a broken thermostat ... wouldn't shut off [so] there was constant heat coming from the vents even in the summer."

"A new Pawsox stadium?' he wrote. "Really? No. No, no, no."

Never miss a story

Choose the plan that's right for you.
Digital access or digital and print delivery.